Into the Sea
by crimson clouded butterfly
Summary: A NaruHina with a touch of real life story: Hinata is a lighthouse keeper who hurls bottled messages into the sea every year. Longing for a reply from faraway lands, Hinata has yet to receive that one reply she had been waiting for. OneShot.


**Author's note: This is inspired by a true story with lots of alterations XD Anyway, this will be a good come back story I guess. So, tell me what you think guys. Tell me real good. ;)**

**EDIT: ShyShinobi was amazing in spotting my stupid mistake. Hinata's birthday is in December, and Naruto's October, so I edited the story so that these fit in. c:  
**

Hinata twirled around the coast, barefooted, clothed in heavy layers of wool. It was windy, it was December, and it was her birthday.

"Hinata!" Naruto's voice loomed over her as he approached her, a wicker basket in hand. He took his way up to her, on their favorite spot, just beside both the light house and the sea shore. Naruto gave her a sweet smile as he proceeded doing their rituals: Preparing the sheet and the food and the candles for their candlelight dinner birthday celebration.

"Hello, Naruto. Don't you think the weather is fine today? Good thing it doesn't snow in this place. We feel the luxury of lovely shaded air without the frosting bite of cold!"

"Anything is good enough for you, Hinata. You know that." Naruto teased, spreading the picnic sheet across them.

Hinata smiled and agreed with a nod. True, she was easily satisfied with what seemed shallow to others. Her life as a lighthouse keeper, for instance. Her father never approved of her being a lighthouse keeper, but she always loved the outdoors and being away from home. She loved the idea of staying alone at an island, far away from everybody else. It was satisfying for her to live that way, without the usual dreams of money and fashion and marriage as other women think about. She was happy.

"It was a real fine day yesterday down at the village. The Harunos already decided to have another bathroom, so Shikamaru and I went straight to business," Naruto started, "We finished tearing down a part of their house to give way for the new bathroom, but had to cancel all work this day "

"Because it's my birthday." Hinata ended, looking at Naruto. They had always been best friends since they were still little, and it could've been more than that, if only Hinata would drop a hint of her feelings for her blonde friend. Naruto, however in love, could not bring himself to ask Hinata the question of taking their friendship into a more intimate level, with that constant fear of rejection lurking at the corners of his mind. And now all he could do is stay by her side, whatever happens, and be thankful that she acknowledges him in her life.

"Yes. Well, you know I can't miss your birthday." He said, sitting down. Hinata sat beside him, her eyes now once again far into the sea.

"The champagne, oh, Naruto! Don't tell me you forgot the champagne!" Hinata cried when she couldn't find a trace of any bottle which she could use for later's tradition when all of the foods were laid out.

"Of course I didn't. How could I, seeing that these bottled messages never cease to bring you smile and hope every year?" Naruto said and pulled out the familiar brand of champagne they drink ever since 3 years ago.

Hinata giggled. She looked at the northern star, and realized that it was already night time. It's time to start the party.

"And when I turned around, I saw her eating the grapes she said she didn't steal!" Naruto and Hinata roared in laughter. It was 10:00 pm, and they were both full and tipsy. Naruto licked the last drop from his glass. Afterwards he looked at Hinata and her beautiful, dim eyes.

Naruto swallowed. He had been thinking lately. Hinata just reached twenty, and him going twenty two next two months. Up to now there was still no definite 'them', or any signs that there will be. Of course their age is not really what you call the right age for marriage, as it is definitely too young, but weddings and such are coming their way by this time. Naruto wanted to know if it was time to stop hoping for her love and to move on. He wanted to know as early as he could.

"Hey, Hinata." Naruto's tone was serious, Hinata noted. She shifted her weight to revive her focus and attention, despite the fact that she was growing sleepy.

"You know I really enjoyed this night. Happy Birthday to you!" Naruto declared in all honestly.

"Thanks, Naruto. You're one of the reasons why my birthdays mean anything." Hinata replied back.

"Yeah anyway I just wanted to "

"to?"

" to d-don't you think it's time for us to " and before he could even mention the words 'be more than friends' or 'I love you', Hinata suddenly erupted into an overjoyed child and broke in:

"To send my bottled message! You're excellent, Naruto!" to which she gave a quick peck on the cheek (that did more hurt to the man than otherwise) and quickly took a paper from her coat pocket and a pen which she always carried wherever she went. She scribbled down some words and rolled the sheet. She grabbed the now empty champagne bottle and slid the paper inside. Sealing it tightly with the cork and wax from their soon-to-be-gone candles, she smiled an innocent smile as she handed it to Naruto.

There she goes again Naruto thought, Always with this message inside the bottle lark

"Hurl it now, Naruto-kun! Hurl it far, ok? So that it would go far away, to the lands beyond! One of these days, someone is going to find one of those bottles I hope it would be soon "

However irritated Naruto maybe, in his heart would always be a soft spot for Hinata. Taking the bottle away from the grasp of her hand, thinking how foolish her hope of a reply from people of far away was, he tossed the glassed bottle into the ocean.

The two of them became silent, and after a while, he said those three words that changed her heart and his life forever:

"I'm going away."

* * *

Sasuke threw the fishnet into the boat. He checked the engine and the gas to be sure that everything is okay. He didn't want to be stranded in the middle of the sea after all.

"Hey! Everything's fine here! You ready to go fishing?" He asked in French to his comrade, which is the national language of where he was: at the port at St. Gilles Croix de Vie.

A certain spiked blonde went over to where he was. It was Naruto, now living three thousand miles away from Thatcher Island. _If only Hinata was with me,_ he would often think, _she always loved to see faraway places!_

"Yeah, all ready." Naruto replied and they both moved to start the fishing. But as Sasuke proceeded alongside Naruto he saw something glint under water. Something made of glass, and it seems that there was something inside. He hoisted it out of the water. There really was a paper inside, and with much strength he pulled out the cork and took out the paper.

"What's that?" Naruto asked, now aware of his fishing friend's temporary fascination. It was something he used to hurl out into the mad raging sea, and the last one he hurled had been five years ago. And the moment he realized what it was, he quickly grabbed it from Sasuke's hands and read:

Hyuuga Hinata is

a lighthouse keeper

at Thatcher Island Cape Ann

Light Station and had

A birthday there on Dec. 27 2003

With the person she loved most.

Drop her a card!

He read the scribbled letter once again. Salty tear came into his eyes, and at once went inside the boat cabin to find a clean sheet of paper to write on. He couldn't find any, as those on the boat were only receipts of their previous market of fish, but nonetheless found a postcard that would do enough.

His hands trembled as he wrote, with happy and longed for memories come rushing in. Although he thinks of Hinata every day, it was this bottle he last hurled that triggered his passion for her. He couldn't keep this life anymore; he needed Hinata and he needed her now. He will go back to Thatcher Island and live just like before. How foolish of him to go away, thinking that he had no hope for her love!

Dear Hinata,

I Promise to be home on

thanksgiving and on your birthday.

And with me is something I found

along the French coast.

It is something I'm sure

you'll be delighted to see.

Naruto.

It would be Thanksgiving a week after, and on the morrow he would board a ship to Rockport. From then on he will find his way to Thatcher Island.

Naruto stopped walking as he reached his destination. He listened to the sound of the crashing waves, and the smell of salty air. Sunset was just setting in, and there were no words could be used to describe the magnificence of that moment.

To him it was ironic how the place could be so beautiful and yet she who used to reside in it rots six feet under. Almost everything in the world is ironic.

Lucky are the dead who have family and friends mourn for them than those who are living without anyone to love them. And Hinata is a lucky dead, with Naruto loving her more than he ever did, and Naruto the ill-fated living without a Hinata to love him back. Even before he reached Thatcher island, clothed in several layers of garments, a swollen-eyed Hanabi mat him on the coast and told him of her sister's fate. If only she hold on to dear life for twenty four more hours. If only he knew she was going to die from surgery complication the day before.

Naruto sat on the exact same spot he had sat when Hinata reached twenty. It was snowing, it was December, it was her birthday. And exactly the way he hurled those glass bottles, he hurled himself into the icy, relentless sea, hoping to reach that far-away land Hinata had always dreamed of.


End file.
